Influence of three different anesthesia protocols on aged rat brain: a resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging study / 中华医学杂志(英文版)

BACKGROUND@#Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) is a promising method for the study of brain function. Typically, rs-fMRI is performed on anesthetized animals. Although different functional connectivity (FC) in various anesthetics on whole brain have been studied, few studies have focused on different FC in the aged brain. Here, we measured FC under three commonly used anesthesia methods and analyzed data to determine if the FC in whole brain analysis were similar among groups.@*METHODS@#Twenty-four male aged Wistar rats were randomly divided into three groups (n = 8 in each group). Anesthesia was performed under either isoflurane (ISO), combined ISO + dexmedetomidine (DEX) or α-chloralose (AC) according to the groups. Data of rs-fMRI was analyzed by FC in a voxel-wise way. Differences in the FC maps between the groups were analyzed by one-way analysis of variance and post hoc two-sample t tests.@*RESULTS@#Compared with ISO + DEX anesthesia, ISO anesthesia caused increased FC in posterior brain and decreased FC in the middle brain of the aged rat. AC anesthesia caused global suppression as no increase in FC was observed.@*CONCLUSION@#ISO could be used as a substitute for ISO + DEX in rat default mode network studies if the left temporal association cortex is not considered important.

Honokiol-induced apoptosis of human non-Hodgkin lymphoma Raji cells and its possible mechanism / 南方医科大学学报

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the apoptosis-inducing effect of honokiol on human non-Hodgkin lymphoma Raji cells and the possible mechanism.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Raji cells were treated with different concentrations of honokiol, and the proliferation of the cells was detected using MTT assay. Flow cytometry was employed to analyze the cell cycle changes and apoptosis of honokiol-treated cells. Caspase 8 activity in the cells was measured by caspase 8 kit, and RT-PCR was used to detect the expression of apoptosis-related genes Bcl-2, Bad, and Bax.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Honokiol significantly inhibited the growth of Raji cells in a time- and dose-dependent manner, with IC(50) concentration of 17.53, 12.61, and 7.4 µg/ml at 12, 24, 48 h, respectively. Flow cytometry revealed cell cycle arrest at G0/G1 phase following honokiol treatment. The apoptosis rates of Raji cells treated with 7.5 and 15 µg/ml honokiol were significantly higher than that of the control cells [(18.24∓2.53)%, (28.44∓2.48)% vs (4.84∓1.15)%, P<0.01]. Caspase 8 activity in Raji cells was significantly enhanced by honokiol (P<0.05). The mRNA expression of the apoptosis-promoting gene Bad was significantly increased following honokiol treatment (P<0.01), while the expressions of Bcl-2 and Bax remained unchanged.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Honokiol can induce apoptosis in Raji cells possibly in relation to enhancement of caspase 8 activity and Bad gene expression.</p>